I would LOVE to have a list of all USE variables with short descriptions of each. As it is I had to do google searches on what each of the listed ones do, and there are lots I am sure I don't even know about.

Love the distro though, good work!_________________The only difference between a brown-noser and a shithead is depth perception.

I found that the default USE settings found in the make.default file result in some ridiculous dependcies. For instance, when I wanted to emerge vim, it was claiming that xfree, gnome-libs, esd, and a bunch of other crazy packages were needed before I could install vim! I found the install doc to be less than helpful in explaining how to correct this, and I only found my answer when I visited #gentoo (Thanks nitro!)_________________I wouldn't recommend sex, drugs or insanity for everyone, but they've always worked for me.

Yeh i like that - perhaps base, gnome and kde base make files, and then we can add things like OSS to them if we need._________________The only difference between a brown-noser and a shithead is depth perception.

I hate to keep bringing up Sorcerer GNU Linux, but the way they handle dependencies is to find all deps for a particular package you want to install, rank them as either "required" or "optional", and then, before any downloading or compiling begins, asks the user if they would like to install the required/optional dependency with a one-sentence description of what it actually is/does. If the user does not respond at all, there is a default answer (yes for required, no for optional) that gets entered after a (configurable) wait time.

This sort of system would solve several problems with Gentoo:
1. when installing simple apps like vim, the default USE settings require X and lots of other crazy apps as "dependencies" - this way, the user could opt out of optional ones they did not want to install.
2. given the automatic timeout nature of the questions, this could be implemented to provide a more automatic install, where if no answer is given, the most common choice is selected at the end of the timeout period - or the user could even set the timeout variable to zero for a completely automatic install.

From what I have seen, Gentoo solves many problems that Sorcerer has, but there is also much that Gentoo can benefit from by taking a good look at the way Sorcerer interacts with the user._________________I wouldn't recommend sex, drugs or insanity for everyone, but they've always worked for me.

it was claiming that xfree, gnome-libs, esd, and a bunch of other crazy packages were needed before I could install vim!
...
and I only found my answer when I visited #gentoo (Thanks nitro!)

euh, could you enlighten us too? I removed stuff from my use variables and still it seems to want these dependancies, even if I do an "export USE="-kde" and others, mplayer still wanted qt and arts, and XMMS the same, while their websites clearly state only X some libs and gtk (mplayer fronted). Solution: just wait longer

but that is no fun.. besides, I had the exact same problem with vim, so I decided to postpone vim and do a GNOME install first.

euh, could you enlighten us too? I removed stuff from my use variables and still it seems to want these dependancies, even if I do an "export USE="-kde" and others, mplayer still wanted qt and arts, and XMMS the same, while their websites clearly state only X some libs and gtk (mplayer fronted). Solution: just wait longer

but that is no fun.. besides, I had the exact same problem with vim, so I decided to postpone vim and do a GNOME install first.

greetz Ozy

I had the same problems with xmms, etc. I hunted around the ebuilds and found that adding a -sdl in addition to -kde -qt seemed to do the trick. Now I just need to find out exactly what -sdl does...

I found that the default USE settings found in the make.default file result in some ridiculous dependcies. For instance, when I wanted to emerge vim, it was claiming that xfree, gnome-libs, esd, and a bunch of other crazy packages were needed before I could install vim!

hehe, I had a similar problem with licq. I have 1.0.4-r1 (I believe that's the one), and --update world told me I needed to upgrade to -r2, and with that, all kinds of kde deps and such. I don't want to polute my system with that stuff. I wonder why the same version of the application all of a sudden needs these deps between ebuild versions. yes, I have -kde and a bunch of other apps I dont' want to have in my USE settings in make.conf (which portage constantly wants to update ) Oh well, I just stuck it at -rc1 for now until I have time to poke around that ebuild and figure out wtf is going on with it. Cheers_________________-- PC^God --

[quote="fatty"]I hate to keep bringing up Sorcerer GNU Linux, but the way they handle dependencies is to find all deps for a particular package you want to install, rank them as either "required" or "optional", and then, before any downloading or compiling begins, asks the user if they would like to install the required/optional dependency with a one-sentence description of what it actually is/does. If the user does not respond at all, there is a default answer (yes for required, no for optional) that gets entered after a (configurable) wait time.

We're working on a reasonable list of USE variables right now. The reason we don't use the Sorcerer approach is due to the Gentoo design philosophy that emerge/ebuild is _not_ interactive. Some reasonable method of interrogating ebuilds for their optional functionality is required, though, and we're working on that. (You can follow bug # 1771 if you like.)

how about just adding a --interactive mode that is similar to the approach sorcery linux does it... in that way gentoo users CAN use an interactive mode if they like it... i like the noniteractive mode very much... its like great to be able to just do an emerge gnome without having even x installed and just go and watch a movie or something....

how about just adding a --interactive mode that is similar to the approach sorcery linux does it... in that way gentoo users CAN use an interactive mode if they like it... i like the noniteractive mode very much... its like great to be able to just do an emerge gnome without having even x installed and just go and watch a movie or something....

Currently because it would take alot of time and effort that is better spent elsewhere.

Not to bash on your ideas/wants/needs, but an interactive mode is more of a luxury than anything else...

Wouldn't the best thing be to have a way to control the ebuild? Not an interactive mode - not just because of the time/effort to add it, but because it would loose the 'press button and come back (much) later' propery that it the only way mere mortals (<2GHz CPU) can use portage!

So, some way of disabling some of the dependencies marked by adding a cmd line option (e.g. emerge -nodep unwanted1,unwanted2 mypackage)

Obviously very likely to fail if user doesn't know what they are doing, but I decided not to do vim last night because of the huge list of deps... must work out the USE vars soon!